Whoa, congratulations! I remember seeing one on a high shelf at Ken Hansen's long ago (before the shop moved to Florida and back to New York), but haven't had a chance to play with one. We'll expect the full report.

Once I get home from the /)&%¤(#¤& Danish sector of the North Sea - I'm heading out to another two weks without internet (or toys) next week.

And then I guess there will be a nice little Linhof Color 4x5" for sale, probably wiht a few lenses. Like the battered-but-good 135mm f:3.5 Zeiss Planar, in Linhof shutter, on Linhof board, and the 360mm f:5.5 Tele-Xenar, also Linhof select and dented...

First, opening the ¤%& box wasn't all that easy. I eventually figured out that I had to push in the shiny little knobs and lift at the same time - not so easy with the smooth carbon fiber shell!

But I did manage to get the lid off, to find an inside packed with - camera.

Lifting this, turning that, sliding this-and-that for about half an hour had me convinced that this was a very fine camera indeed. Everything is silky smooth - no "jumpy" rackets here! Everything is friction driven, with clutch locks which can be set to just the tension you need.

I think I've managed to figure out where all the knobs are, which knobs control what, and how. I've even managed to pack it again, and open it up again.

But I may have to buy another lens. My newest lenses, from the early 70's (1970's, not 1870's) look decidedly anachronistic on that camera. And they looked so right on the Linhof Color...

The seller has been kind enough to write an illustrated in-depth review of the camera before he sold it to me. It's in French, but the illustrations are far better than anything I could take - today, at least.

- on a close look, it seems that he's had TWO of these! And if so, mine is composed of parts of both of them? Anyway, I'm not complaining: The camera is a wonder of engineering and design, and if I could compose the perfect camera for my use this would be it!